Offshore Fatalities More Than Double Despite Improved Injury Rates, Industry Group Warns

The global offshore marine contracting industry’s improving injury rates are masking a more troubling reality: fatal accidents are rising.

That is the central message from the International Marine Contractors Association’s (IMCA) latest Annual Safety Statistics Report, which found that fatalities more than doubled in 2025 even as traditional safety metrics continued to improve.

The report, based on more than 1.02 billion working hours submitted by 167 contractor members, recorded seven fatalities in 2025, up from three the previous year. Four of the deaths occurred offshore.

Meanwhile, the industry’s Lost Time Injury Frequency Rate (LTIFR) improved to 0.27 from 0.30, while the Total Recordable Injury Rate (TRIR) fell to 0.98 from 1.10.

IMCA said those positive trends should not obscure the industry’s exposure to potentially fatal hazards.

“Every fatality represents a person, a family and a workforce affected by loss,” said Mark Holmes, IMCA’s Safety and Security Manager. “While the continued improvement in injury rates is encouraging and reflects the hard work of our Members, these figures demonstrate that serious harm risks remain present despite improving injury statistics.”

“Safety performance should no longer be judged primarily by injury frequency rates, but by how effectively companies identify and control the hazards most likely to result in death or life-changing injury,” he added.

The association said the findings underscore the need to shift attention from traditional injury-frequency metrics toward preventing serious injuries and fatalities by identifying high-consequence hazards before accidents occur.

Alongside the seven fatalities, IMCA members reported 268 lost-time injuries and 996 total recordable injuries during the year. The industry’s Fatal Accident Rate (FAR) rose to 0.69 from 0.30.

Among the fatal incidents detailed in the report were an electrocution, a fall from height, and a mooring accident involving a parted rope. Details of four other fatalities were not disclosed.

The report also highlighted “line of fire” incidents as the leading cause of lost-time injuries, accounting for about 41% of cases in 2025, down from roughly 52% a year earlier.

Rather than treating line-of-fire incidents as a single category, IMCA urged companies to focus on the specific situations that expose workers to hazardous energy, including lifting and rigging operations, mooring activities, suspended loads, moving equipment, dropped objects, stored energy, and hand and finger pinch points.

The association also pointed to a notable decline in safety observation reporting. The Safety Observation Frequency Rate fell about 20% to 387.1 observations per 200,000 hours worked, down from 482.1 in 2024.

IMCA said it remains unclear whether the drop reflects changes in reporting practices, participating companies, or reporting systems. However, it encouraged companies to focus less on the number of observation cards submitted and more on whether those observations lead to meaningful lessons, practical improvements, and stronger safety discussions.

Drawing on both the annual statistics and its Safety Flash reports, IMCA identified several recurring areas requiring continued attention, including lifting and rigging operations, dropped objects, mooring and snap-back zones, working at height, electrical safety, and routine day-to-day tasks.

The report noted that many of the industry’s most serious incidents continue to occur during routine work rather than unusual operations, highlighting the importance of consistent planning, supervision, and risk management.

Looking ahead, IMCA said the findings will shape its future safety initiatives, including a stronger emphasis on preventing serious injuries and fatalities, improving understanding of line-of-fire hazards, investigating the decline in safety observations, encouraging broader industry participation in reporting, and strengthening the link between incident reports and practical safety guidance.

“Some of the findings are genuinely encouraging and reflect the industry’s commitment to improving everyday safety,” Holmes said. “Others are deeply concerning and remind us that serious harm prevention must remain at the centre of everything we do.”

“Every contractor, supervisor and worker has a responsibility to recognise serious risks before they become tragedies. The goal remains the same: everyone working in our industry should go home safe and well.”

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